The true value of investing in retail employee training and development

Regardless of the category or vertical, retail operations are complex ecosystems comprising various layers and components. From location, product assortment and pricing to merchandising, marketing and inventory management, each cog in the retail wheel needs to function at a near-optimal level to contribute to an organization’s overall success. 

But retailers’ efforts in these areas wouldn’t be possible without their people. According to Kevin Graff, retail training and development expert and Founder and President of business management consulting firm Graff Retail, the talent shortages blighting the industry should make retailers take notice of the value and differentiating potential inherent in providing strong employee training and development. 

“If you expect your employees to remain within your organization, it has to be about more than just showing up to work,” Graff says. 

“What opportunities are you providing for them to learn, collaborate, share ideas, grow and develop? People have always wanted these opportunities. But today, there seems to be a growing expectation of them. If an employee isn’t happy within their job, there are about 10 other jobs they can get tomorrow. So, why are they going to continue working within their current jobs? If the retailer isn’t going to nurture their employees and help them grow as individuals, they’re going to need to pay them lots of money and offer phenomenal benefits. But, that’s a short-lived game because eventually someone else comes along and offers more money and better benefits.”

Graff underscores the importance of providing retail employees with training and development opportunities, stressing the significance of doing so toward satisfying their needs and improving the experience enjoyed by today’s workforce. 

His notion is supported by findings in a recent LinkedIn Workforce Learning Report, which revealed that 90% of organizations concerned with employee retention consider providing learning opportunities their number one retention strategy. 70% percent of employees say learning improves their sense of connection to their organization, and 80% say it adds purpose to their work.

Given this sentiment around training and development, offering employees the right learning opportunities will help merchants and businesses significantly decrease turnover. However, Graff says that employee training isn’t just a powerful tool that can be leveraged to retain organizational talent. Numerous other benefits can enhance the business and the employee experience, not to mention differentiate the brand from competitors:

1. Increased employee engagement

One of the most compelling and meaningful benefits of providing employees with opportunities to grow, says Graff, is their increased engagement with the brand and its objectives.

“How do you, as a business owner, get your employees to care as much about the business as you do? By providing your employees with the right opportunities to learn and grow, they start to understand and connect to the vision of the business, which then supports their ability to execute on the brand promise and work toward its overarching objectives.”

2. Greater clarity concerning roles

Along with increased engagement, Graff points out that by building employee learning and development processes, retailers also help define expectations within the organization, creating a basis for employee success.

“Effective training and development go a long way toward clarifying roles for employees, reinforcing through this type of investment the fact that they’re incredibly important to the business. It defines expectations from a behavior perspective and helps employees better understand how they’re contributing to the success of the business and their colleagues.”

3. Enhanced collaboration and performance

A greater understanding of their own roles and the roles of their colleagues, explains Graff, then results in increased collaboration and performance. According to Gartner research, employees receiving adequate development opportunities within their organizations are 44% more likely to be high performers than those not offered the same or similar formalized training.

“It just makes sense that an engaged employee who understands their role within the company will be more able and willing to execute at high levels. And when you put your employees in this kind of position, you’ll see a consistent rise in average basket size, conversion rates and ultimately sales.”

4. Sparking creativity and innovation

In addition to increased employee output, another layer of performance that’s positively impacted by the implementation of employee training and development is the levels of creativity and innovation within the organizations offering it.

“An employee who feels valued and important with respect to the overall goals and objectives of the business is an employee who wants to share ideas and insights,” says Graff. 

“It’s as simple as that. And when your entire staff feels this way, collaborating and contributing toward the success of the business, everyone wins.”

5.  Improved employee and customer experience

Despite the many benefits of providing employees with learning and growth opportunities, Graff insists that the greatest payoff is in the enhanced experience that customers of the brand receive. After all, he says, providing exceptional service is what retail is all about.

“As a result of a recent decrease in foot traffic to physical brick-and-mortar stores, interaction with the consumer is more important today than ever before. Store managers don’t often control the product selection, price, store design or really much of anything else within the store. But where they do have an impact is in the performance of their staff. How you hire, train, manage, coach and lead your employees is directly correlated to the levels of staff knowledge and quality of service that’s provided and, as a result, satisfaction among consumers.”

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Considering the ongoing talent shortages faced by retailers across the industry, which present significant challenges with staffing frontline customer-facing positions, Graff suggests that the time is now for organizations looking to develop or enhance their training for frontline staff.

“For retailers that don’t have an employee training program within their business, they have to get started on building internally today, and they have to move fast.”

However, he adds that as important as creating a training and development regimen is, so too is consistently reviewing and analyzing the needs of the business and employees and the effectiveness of the employee training you’re offering.

“Training and development programs should be constantly evolving. They’ve got to align with the changing needs of the business, the expectations of employees and evolving consumer behavior, tastes and preferences. If you’re not doing a top-to-bottom review and analysis of your training programs on an annual basis in the least, it’s like having a binder in the cupboard that nobody looks at. The implementation and execution of training and development programs are important. But the reinforcement strategy is equally critical in keeping the program alive and functioning optimally.”

The quality of in-store service and interaction determines retail success and failure. Retail frontline employees will be responsible for delivering these outcomes, so investing in their training, growth and skill development is essential for retailers going forward.